Irmena Chichikova

Eastern Plays

Two estranged brothers are brought together when they have opposite roles in a racist beating: while Georgi who's recently joined a neo-nazi group participates in the violence, Hristo witnesses and rescues a Turkish family. Only by reuniting will the two brothers be able to assess what they really want from life.

A Dose of Happiness

The real story of the journalist Vesela Toteva (in the role is her daughter -Valentina Karoleva) searching for her own happiness during the dynamic and uncertain 90's in Bulgaria. A tale about drugs, fall, fear and redemption.

Starlight

Spanning multiple generations and continents, Starlight follows the poignant journeys of four main characters as they traverse the bittersweet chapters of their lives, culminating in their ultimate struggles to overcome overwhelming obstacles relating to cancer. Yet, the heart of the film lies beyond the disease itself; it is a narrative of hope celebrating the power and perseverance of the human spirit, embodied and personified by these characters and their ability to triumph spectacularly against all odds.

The Bra

Train driver Nurlan’s heading to Baku for the last time before retirement, but on his fateful journey around the neighborhoods of the city his train snags a blue bra off a washing line. To escape from his lonely existence, Nurlan embarks on the most adventurous journey of his life: to find the owner of this perky piece of underwear. He rents a small room in Baku and begins his quest to find his “Cinderella”.

Touch Me Not

Together, a filmmaker and her characters venture into a personal research project about intimacy. On the fluid border between reality and fiction, Touch Me Not follows the emotional journeys of Laura, Tómas and Christian, offering a deeply empathic insight into their lives. Craving for intimacy yet also deeply afraid of it, they work to overcome old patterns, defense mechanisms and taboos, to cut the cord and finally be free. Touch Me Not looks at how we can find intimacy in the most unexpected ways, at how to love another without losing ourselves.

I Am You

Through two unique female personas the film suggests a metaphysical idea of the present as ever recurring, since the temptations, which the human soul faces, are always the same. But any choice can be made only after the experience of the past is passed on and shared with a kindred spirit in the present. Such is the nature of the relationship between Adriana, the femme fatale of 1938, and the innocent Yura of 2008.

Viktoria

Dreaming of the West, Boryana is determined not to have a child in communist Bulgaria. Nonetheless, her daughter Viktoria enters the world in 1979, curiously missing a belly button, and is declared the country’s Baby of the Decade. Pampered by her mother state until the age of nine, Viktoria’s decade of notoriety comes crashing down with the rest of European communism. But can political collapse and the hardship of new times finally bring Viktoria and her reluctant mother closer together

Zvezda

After graduating in London, the artist Zvezda has to return to Bulgaria to help her mother. She manages to arrange her first solo exhibition in a renowned Sofia gallery, but the dreamed opening triumph is canceled due to the Covid lock down.

Eastern Plays

Two estranged brothers are brought together when they have opposite roles in a racist beating: while Georgi who's recently joined a neo-nazi group participates in the violence, Hristo witnesses and rescues a Turkish family. Only by reuniting will the two brothers be able to assess what they really want from life.

A Dose of Happiness

The real story of the journalist Vesela Toteva (in the role is her daughter -Valentina Karoleva) searching for her own happiness during the dynamic and uncertain 90's in Bulgaria. A tale about drugs, fall, fear and redemption.

Starlight

Spanning multiple generations and continents, Starlight follows the poignant journeys of four main characters as they traverse the bittersweet chapters of their lives, culminating in their ultimate struggles to overcome overwhelming obstacles relating to cancer. Yet, the heart of the film lies beyond the disease itself; it is a narrative of hope celebrating the power and perseverance of the human spirit, embodied and personified by these characters and their ability to triumph spectacularly against all odds.

The Bra

Train driver Nurlan’s heading to Baku for the last time before retirement, but on his fateful journey around the neighborhoods of the city his train snags a blue bra off a washing line. To escape from his lonely existence, Nurlan embarks on the most adventurous journey of his life: to find the owner of this perky piece of underwear. He rents a small room in Baku and begins his quest to find his “Cinderella”.

Touch Me Not

Together, a filmmaker and her characters venture into a personal research project about intimacy. On the fluid border between reality and fiction, Touch Me Not follows the emotional journeys of Laura, Tómas and Christian, offering a deeply empathic insight into their lives. Craving for intimacy yet also deeply afraid of it, they work to overcome old patterns, defense mechanisms and taboos, to cut the cord and finally be free. Touch Me Not looks at how we can find intimacy in the most unexpected ways, at how to love another without losing ourselves.

I Am You

Through two unique female personas the film suggests a metaphysical idea of the present as ever recurring, since the temptations, which the human soul faces, are always the same. But any choice can be made only after the experience of the past is passed on and shared with a kindred spirit in the present. Such is the nature of the relationship between Adriana, the femme fatale of 1938, and the innocent Yura of 2008.

Viktoria

Dreaming of the West, Boryana is determined not to have a child in communist Bulgaria. Nonetheless, her daughter Viktoria enters the world in 1979, curiously missing a belly button, and is declared the country’s Baby of the Decade. Pampered by her mother state until the age of nine, Viktoria’s decade of notoriety comes crashing down with the rest of European communism. But can political collapse and the hardship of new times finally bring Viktoria and her reluctant mother closer together

Zvezda

After graduating in London, the artist Zvezda has to return to Bulgaria to help her mother. She manages to arrange her first solo exhibition in a renowned Sofia gallery, but the dreamed opening triumph is canceled due to the Covid lock down.

Yellowbird

While living in New York, a young immigrant receives tragic news from overseas, and must choose between going home or staying in the US to maintain her legal status.

Letters from Antarctica

A single mother, wanting to protect her eight-year-old son from pain, lies to him that his dad is away with the Antarctic expedition. But postponing the confession about the father's death, causes damage to her and her son.

Interview in The Womb of The Whale

A paramedic in a psychiatric clinic routinely performs duties related to three patients with severe mental disorders. Taking care of them on a daily basis, the paramedic imperceptibly begins to empathize with their emotions. Frightened by what he sees, he begins to question his own sanity...

Schrödinger's Man

In the midst of an existential crisis, Y. ostracizes himself to live the rest of his days in solitude - locked in an underground bunker, with a system designed to euthanize him at a random time. Both dead and alive, his fragile peace is shattered by a series of apparitions.

8' 19"

8 minutes and 19 seconds – that’s all the time we have until the news about the death of the sun reaches us. That's what it takes for the light to travel from there to here. And then the darkness comes… But the theme of this Apocalypse is not necessarily going to be expressed through a global cataclysm, horsemen of the apocalypse, angels of death, fire and destruction. It will rather be shown as something very personal, intimate and almost silent.

Phi 1.618

In a dystopian future, a nation of bio-titans has been created and the female sex and procreation have become obsolete. As the Earth turns toxic, the bio-titans are eager to colonise the cosmos on board a colossal spaceship, taking with them only one female body kept barely alive as a reminder of the troubled past. But everything changes when the immortal calligrapher Krypton, tasked with creating an indestructible copy of the entire written heritage of his kin, sees a forbidden book turn into a feisty girl, Gargara.

Omnipresent

The story of Omnipresent is centered around Emil, writer and owner of advertising agency who gradually becomes obsessed with spying on his family, friends and employees via hidden spy cameras. What starts as an innocent hobby ends up as a total disaster, as in the process he abuses his new power and eventually comes to realize that some secrets should be left uncovered.

Gadjé

In the last summer days of 2007, Nikki and Nadе are 16 and in love. Niki is Bulgarian and Nadé is Gypsy. Everyone in the village is against their relationship. Faced with the prejudice and hatred of the adults, Nikki and Nade try to live their last days together before Nikki returns to Belgium.

The Black Sea

Khalid, a charismatic big dreamer from Brooklyn, with no follow-thru gets stuck in a small town on the Black Sea after chasing an opportunity for money that goes wrong. Being the only black guy in the town, he quickly becomes the center of the town’s attention. His New York City street bop is all he has to survive. In his pursuit to get home he finds connection in a way he never expected with a local woman. Together they make their small dreams big.

Dyad

Smart, angry, self-reliant Dida will stop at nothing to achieve a single tangible goal – to buy a plane ticket so she can join her estranged mother in the United States.

Secret Invasion

Nick Fury and Talos discover a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls who have been infiltrating Earth for years.

The Devil's Throat

At the height of the refugee crisis in Bulgaria, a competent DANS employee and an ambitious local investigator are investigating the murder of a retired police officer in the border town of Smolyan. The clues are gradually turning them into a terrible secret about a crime that will overturn their investigation and personal fate.

Anxiety

The series tells stories of people who sought psychotherapeutic help from Dr. Manov, an internationally recognized psychoanalyst, and his wife, Dr. Yasenova, a specialist in child and adolescent psychology. Each series parallelly follows what is happening in the two offices, as well as the relationship between the two therapists.

Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection

What’s a story only you can tell? Inspired by this prompt, a diverse group of artists bring their personal stories to life across a spectacular range of animated styles and genres, including horror, comedy and fantasy.